Due to vacation schedules, the sermons page has been a little behind, but everything is now caught up, so we have some shiny new sermons on the web page and in the iTunes Store.
Sermons Page Updated
10 Wednesday Aug 2016
Posted in worship
Author Archives: Douglas Forrester
An Update from the Council of Bishops
25 Monday Jul 2016
Posted in information, Uncategorized
An update on the ongoing progress of resolving matters of human sexuality was released today by the Council of Bishops of the United Methodist Church.
The Commission on a Way Forward The Council of Bishops Executive Committee’s July 19-20 meeting in Chicago devoted much of its agenda to finalizing plans for launching the Commission on a Way Forward. The full Council had previously referred the design and implementation of the Commission to the Executive Committee.
We began by acknowledging the profound dissonance between what the Council had proposed to the General Conference in May and the reality within the church in July. The landscape has changed dramatically. The reported declarations of non-compliance from several annual conferences, the intention to convene a Wesleyan Covenant Association and the election of the Rev. Karen Oliveto as a bishop of the church have opened deep wounds and fissures within The United Methodist Church and fanned fears of schism.
Gideon (A Poem For My Nation)
08 Friday Jul 2016
Gideon (A Poem For My Nation)
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.”
Mark 3:25
My Address to the 2016 Graduating Class of Maggie L. Walker Governor’s School
26 Sunday Jun 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
I only had 5-6 minutes, or I would have said more. Reveille was blessed to host this baccalaureate, and it was fun to be a part of it. A special thanks to Susan Creasy for arranging it.
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”
Psalm 139:14a
Well.
You made it. You did it. You’re here. At last. For those who raised you, this is at once one of the greatest and worst days of their lives, especially if you are a first-born and certainly if you are an only child. This is uncharted territory, and everyone is doing their best, making it up as they go along. It is a little exciting, as well as a little frightening.
The Outsiders: Living as a Christian in the Real World, “Being Popular vs. Being Right”
08 Wednesday Jun 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
The serm
on from Sunday, May 29, 2016 is up and available for streaming or download. This sermon begins our new series on the Epistle to the Galatians and what it can teach us about how to be the church today. Last Sunday’s sermon will be posted soon.
Listening and Learning at Reveille UMC
30 Monday May 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Grace and peace to you. I pray you are well.
We have now entered the Season after Pentecost, but I would like to take you back to the previous season of the liturgical calendar: the season of Eastertide. It was during this season that we engaged in an intentional season of prayer in which many of you participated. Next comes a time of reflection and discernment. How is it with your soul? What is God saying to you as you pray for our church? What is next for Reveille United Methodist Church?
A Pastoral Letter from Bishop Young Jin Cho
30 Monday May 2016
Posted in from others
Bishop Cho has provided a pastoral letter to the churches and clergy of the Virginia Conference following the quadrennial meeting of the United Methodist General Conference. You can read the full text here.
On Death: What it Means to Truly Live – Boulders and Stones
26 Thursday May 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
The concluding sermon in our death series is up
. This sermon is about grief and how we can help one another through it. It is also available in the iTunes store. Check it out.
The Burden of Ordination: LGBTQI Persons and the Church
18 Wednesday May 2016
Posted in Uncategorized
Only look at your tools, your needle, your thimble, your beer barrel, your articles of trade, your scales, your measures, and you will find this saying written on them. You will not be able to look anywhere where it does not strike your eyes. None of the things with which you deal daily are too trifling to tell you this incessantly, if you are but willing to hear it; and there is no lack of such preaching, for you have as many preachers as there are transactions, commodities, tools and other implements in your house and estate, and they shout this to your face: “My dear, use me toward your neighbor as you would want him to act toward you with that which is his.”‘
– Martin Luther (1483-1546), writing on Christian Vocation
Like every other United Methodist clergyperson, I have been following with varied levels of interest/frustration/heartbreak the 2016 United Methodist General Conference in Portland. What follows is a meditation on one of our most controversial issues: the ordination of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex persons.
Balancing Covenants: A Clergy Self-Care Manifesto
09 Monday May 2016
Posted in information
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” – Matthew 4:8-9
A prayer request from my daughter Claire.
“You are the third United Methodist pastor to present with these symptoms since I began at this medical practice, eighteen months ago,” said my physician.
I didn’t know whether to feel better or worse. I thought “At least I know I am not alone.” Then I tried to figure out who the other two were.
